The supers and the paupers: Tamil cinema’s 2023 definitive list

You might already be fatigued and we understand why. By the time you were done reading half-a-dozen listicles about the year in rewind, you wondered who had wasted more time: the writer or the reader. And to add to the drudgery were the roundtables which lasted longer than a leap year. So much so that even spotting any circularly shaped furniture could trigger mild migraine.

But worry not. Pop that aspirin. And read through our very definitive list of Tamil cinema this year. We don’t mince words, we don’t beat around the bush, and we absolutely don’t play it safe. So relax and entertain your exhausted self with our edgy, and blunt-but-also-sharp list of 2023.

Since popular Tamil film criticism has effectively been reduced to two simple but precise phrases – verithanam (“fiery”, to denote anything good) or semma mokkai (meaning “super bland”) – it’s only fair we too stick to the nomenclature.

So let’s first begin with the verithanam moments of 2023.

Verithanam#6: The shining stars

The year witnessed exceptional performances from actors Vikram and SJ Suryah. 

As the jilted lover and Chola prince, Vikram literally hijacked Ponniyin Selvan – 2 with his spectacular show. Portraying a character that was filled with pride and grief in equal measures, Vikram brought alive the impulsive and volatile Chola prince. His performance was so exceptional that he singularly infused life into the second part of this epic Maniratnam film. 

Equally brilliant were the hyperbolic performances of SJ Suryah in Mark Antony and Jigarthanda DoubleX. He found a natural fit in the bling and brashness of Mark Antony, and the film works primarily because of his presence and performance. And in Jigarthanda DoubleX, he brings in an aggressive suaveness to the filmmaker’s character he plays. With an unforgettable moustache. 

At #5: Pebbles and its ripples

PS Vinothraj's Koozhangal (Pebbles) might have won the Tiger Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2021, but the film was only aired on an OTT platform this year. And it continued to be applauded by not only the Tamil public but the master filmmakers in the industry as well.

Literally made on a shoe-string budget, Koozhangal felt like a blend between a Bharathiraja and Abbas Kiarostami film – with the stirring emotion of the former but the aesthetic sensibility of the latter. And like both these filmmakers, Koozhangal captured its characters and the relationship with their landscapes.

It was unfortunate the film couldn’t find a theatrical release. But market forces cannot take away its emotional depth and visual sensibility.

#4: When writers get it right

In an industry where screenwriting remains a poorly paid job (if at all it is paid, that is), filmmaker Madonne Ashwin and writer Chandru A wrote the very brilliant Maaveeran. So did Ramkumar Balakrishnan in his irresistible debut Parking. While both these films might have faltered towards the end, we still can’t deny the power of good writing in the overall script.

Maaveeran pushed Sivakarthikeyan to step out from his usual generic performance and contribute substantially for the titular role. Similar to the mercurial performances of MS Bhaskar and Harish Kalyan in Parking. Thus proving again that good performances can only stem from solid writing.

#3: When small is big

While industry pundits opined that only mega films with big stars can draw audiences, the year junked all such claims. Promising small and mid-sized films had a stellar theatrical show and were able to draw sustained audience footfalls. What’s even better is that several of these were directorial debuts.

The list includes (but is not restricted to) Vignesh Raja’s Por Thozhil, Ganesh K Babu’s Dada, Vinayak Chandrasekaran’s Good Night, SU Arunkumar’s Chithha, Yuvaraj Dhayalan’s Irugapatru and R Manthira Moorthy’s Ayothi.

While there might be minor flaws with these films, they all had a very original voice, were earnest, and resonated with the audience too.

#2: When music scores over noise

To anyone following Tamil cinema, it might be evident how songs and background scores have taken a beating in the last few years. While songs have slowly disappeared from being used as storytelling tools, the primary objective of the background score seems to be to pump adrenaline, irrespective of what happens on the screen. 

So it is not surprising that the most beautiful album of the year happened outside theatres. Amazon Prime’s Modern Love Chennai, an anthology curated by filmmaker Thiagarajan Kumararaja, saved the day by bringing together the exceptional music of Isaignani Ilaiyaraaja, Yuvan Shankar Raja, Sean Roldan and GV Prakash Kumar.

While Ilaiyaraaja delighted us with his feverishly young Nenjil Oru Minnal (Margazhi), the structurally complex yet lucid Thendral (Margazhi), teasingly jazzy Aanaal (Ninaivo Oru Paravai) or the seductive Paavi Nenjae (Ninaivo Oru Paravai), Sean Roldan threw a musical bomb with his soul-stirring (like, really!) Uravu (Lalagunda Bommaigal). 

One might have had mixed feelings about the anthology series, but Amazon Prime and Thiagarajan Kumararaja deserve our immense love for just creating such a beautiful album in these noisy times.

If Sean Roldan gave us the most hummable song of the year, Naan Gaali in Good Night, Ilaiyaraaja gave us a quintessential melody, Kaatumalli in Viduthalai – Part 1.

AR Rahman, meanwhile, gave us the achingly moving Nenjame Nenjame in Maamannan. And as if the Vijay Yesudas and Shakthisree Gopalan wasn’t lovely enough, he topped it with a version of Deva’s rustic vocals as well.

#1: Who doesn’t love a good siesta?

Some might argue that Lijo Jose Pellissery’s Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam is fundamentally a Malayalam film. But well, we have to politely, or if need be, impolitely disagree with them. How can a film whose title evokes the Tamil saint poet Thiruvalluvar and opens with a Sirkazhi Govindarajan’s song written by Kannadasan be anything but Tamil?

It was a gorgeous and fascinating film. Its philosophical take on ‘remembering’, ‘forgetting’ and ‘being’ was simple, crisp and profound, just like the Thirukkural couplet it quotes. With an unimaginably terrific Mammootty, who seems to be at the peak of his career playing the central role in the film.

While we don’t mind Malayalees showering their love for the film, we request them to stay away from claiming any linguistic ownership.

So without any doubt, Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam’s philosophical and almost spiritual take on human existence captures the verithanam#1 place. Even if the film’s philosophy might claim that such #1 positions are merely fleeting ones.

Now that we are done visiting the verithanam moments, let’s dive into the controversial semma mokkai ones.

Semma mokkai#6: Scary ghost, no. Scary film, yes.

P Vasu’s Chandramukhi (2005) starring Rajinikanth and Jyothika was such a massive hit, that the film was remade in multiple languages. So when he went back to make Chandramukhi 2, there was quite a curiosity. Particularly when it was announced that Kangana Ranaut will be playing the titular role.

But unfortunately what terrified the audience was not the ghost of Chandramukhi, but the film itself. Poorly written and dismally performed, Chandramukhi 2 was an utter pain to watch. And worse, even the Oscar winning M M Keeravani’s songs and music couldn’t offer any solace to the disaster.

#5: The big dull 

While the big films featuring male stars were able to do good business, they were cinematically dreadful to sit through. Whether it was Ajith Kumar’s Thunivu, Vijay’s Varisu or Dhanush’s Vaathi, they were all terribly written and directed. Audiences were blunt enough to call Varisu an extension of ‘TV serial drama’.

It remains a puzzle how films with such huge budgets aren’t able to attract good screenwriters. The much hyped Pongal festive clash between Vijay’s Varisu and Ajith Kumar’s Thunivu did exactly what a delicious plate of pongal can do – put us to sleep.

#4: The LCU gimmick 

While Lokesh Kanagaraj’s ‘LCU’ (Lokesh Cinematic Universe) was a huge marketing hit, it turned out to be just an over-simplistic gimmick in Leo. 

The public lapped up the idea of interconnected storylines across multiple films by a filmmaker and had hoped for something exciting. But Leo didn’t have anything solid to offer. Instead, it merely references some inconsequential characters and moments from Lokesh’s earlier films.

It could have been interesting if LCU really offered some substantial storytelling. But to use it only as a marketing tool to promote the filmmaker’s upcoming projects seems to be very disappointing.

It is about time we let LCU rest in peace. At semma mokkai #4.

#3: Anirudh’s music and the pressure to go viral

Before Anirudh’s fans throw their brickbats, request them to hear this out. There is no doubt that the composer is very gifted and has composed some brilliant songs. But the problem is, the market doesn’t rightfully allow him to explore the music he is good at.

Anirudh is under pressure from market forces to do two things. One, produce songs that go viral online, and second, save a bad screenplay with an adrenaline pumping background score. While he does both successfully, it doesn’t give him any room to make good music.

Instead of making it for human ears, Anirudh is being forced to make music that cracks the YouTube algorithm. Which is why he primarily makes songs that sound like advertisement jingles or children rhymes – because of their ability to go viral easily. He is also forced to save the poor screenplay of star vehicles by pumping non-stop loud music that numbs our senses. So much so that we aren’t able to see how poor the underlying screenplay is anymore.

There is no doubt that Anirudh is the ‘commercially most successful’ composer today. But if we wonder about the musical nature and shelf life of what he produces, it remains very questionable. Most of these songs might turn out to be YouTube hits, but one wonders if listeners are able to return to them after the initial buzz.

#2: Political duds

Two political films, from very important filmmakers, Mari Selvaraj’s Maamannan and Vetrimaaran’s Viduthalai – Part 1, turned out to be complete duds.

Both films lacked clarity in their storytelling and used violently charged scenes to retain viewership. While Viduthalai was better in terms of filmmaking quality, Maamannan lacked in that department too. Ilaiyaraaja’s music managed to add emotional weight to Viduthalai, something it lacked in its original writing. But AR Rahman unfortunately seemed quite lost in Mari Selvaraj’s landscape and made music that hardly blended with the milieu. 

The most disturbing fact about both these films lies in how they attempt to provoke very primitive feelings in the audience by staging extended violent scenes. If our political films are going to rely on arousing the public through such feelings, and not nudge us to reflect and think, it might be better we stick to making the usual masala fare.

#1: Hyper violence 

While this might not be restricted to Tamil cinema, films made in India are increasingly using hyper violence as an easy way to draw audiences to the movie halls. This phenomenon isn’t restricted to only big films like Jailer, Leo or the dubbed Salaar. But even small films like Michael and Fight Club rely on portraying extreme violence.

Once audiences have normalised a certain level of extreme violence, it becomes imperative to amp it up to a new higher normal that could excite. Tamil cinema seems to be caught in this endless pit, where filmmakers are trying hard to outdo each other in finding ways to depict violence.

But seriously, this is not what the audience really wants. If all that they want to witness are fireworks from guns and the spattering of blood, they might as well spend a day at a local welding shed or even better, at a neighbourhood butcher’s shop. 

Let’s hope that in 2024 at least our filmmakers understand that violence – in whatever level or manner it is – cannot compensate for good storytelling.

Because we go to the movie halls to feel something about our lives. And not to numb ourselves with what is flashed on screen.

All the hyper violence films at semma mokkai #1.

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